Wednesday, 3 February 2010

Goodbye to the Blockbuster at Queen & Spadina

If you live and Toronto and don't recognize the above location, we don't live in the same Toronto. Okay, so the post title here is a bit of a giveaway, but this is the Blockbuster at Queen & Spadina and yesterday I heard some tweets and rumblings that it was closing it doors so I decided to head on by one last time.

I used to go to this location all the time, mainly when it was my local video (yes, video) store 10 years ago and several times since then when I lived in and around that particular neighbourhood. Just last night I watched a Gladiator which I had on VHS - one that was purchased from there back when buying "previously viewed" was still a novel idea. Now, that is almost the only time I go to the video store - to see what deals I can get and in general I'm way more likely to see films at festivals, in the theatre, from the library or from zip.ca so I feel a bit of a pang of sadness when I realize it's closing and I'm barely even their customer anymore.

But, times change and us with them. So, I salute the store for all the films it brought me over the years from Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion to The Professional. Today might be my last outing there and I left one happy camper after slapped down a neat $70 and walked away with 12 DVDs, many of which were already on my 'to buy but can't find' list, along with several guilty pleasures and a few wildcards.

I actually had to steady myself once I hit the horror section... I wanted to pick up EVERYTHING but settled for the few that I couldn't find and/or had been on my list for ages (Rogue, The Host, Resident Evil).

I have fond memories of the videostore my the neighbourhood I grew up in, it was a treat to go there on the weekend and see what was new every week! I remember the HUGE turn out for when Salsa came out.. that day still mystifies me. Salsa. !

Wait till the last day, they put all the films for 3 bucks or something!

A blockbuster that was right next to my house for years and years also closed shop a couple of weeks ago. Now that corner is so empty and sad...

But I did buy a bunch of dvds from them! I got a special edition of Boogie Nights which was an awesome buy!

But still, it made me sad to see it close down since Id been visiting it for years and years! Every day, when I came home from work I would stop and rent a movie or two...now I have to go to some other video store...thats probably thinking of closing its doors as well...

Hey, does this massive closing of Blockbuster stores mean that we will start seeing little video shops opening again?? I hope so!! I loved those little shops!